Comparing Two Texts: Empathy and Moral Code

Group 2

• Whimsical
• Ominous
• Indifferent
• Scientific

• "I was nine when I discovered the man in the well in an abandoned farm-lot near my home."
• "The next morning we came back, most of us carrying bread or fruit or something to eat in our pockets."
• "I remember the spasm of anger when he said my name, and felt the man in the well soak it up because the man in the well understood."
• "It was a hot day, so after a while, Grace got up... and went to town to sit in the cool movie theater."

• To show that the children are being entertained by the man's suffering
• To emphasize the children's sense of morbid fascination and detachment from their own cruelty.
• To suggest that the children are physically deformed by their fear.
• To illustrate that the children feel they are part of a traveling performance.

• A long-lasting medical condition
• A deliberate and planned action
• A sudden and brief burst of emotion or activity
• A feeling of physical exhaustion

Group 3

• believes empathy is the most important factor in human survival.
• doubts that feeling empathy necessarily leads to taking moral action.
• thinks that Nazi prison guards were actually very moral people.
• argues that the Milgram experiments were fundamentally flawed.

• To provide a counterargument to his own claims about moral motivation.
• To establish Prinz's authority as a philosopher who agrees that empathy's contribution to moral action is minimal.
• To explain why children are more empathetic than adults.
• To prove that finding a dime in a phone booth makes people more moral

• To suggest that empathy is beautiful and should be protected at all costs.
• To indicate that empathy is easily overwhelmed by self-interest.
• To show that empathy only grows in specific environments.
• To compare the growth of empathy to the life cycle of a plant.

Group 4

• the physical layout of abandoned farm lots.
• a narrative example of how a group of people can fail to act on empathy
• the history of the circus in small American towns
• the scientific process of fetching someone out of a well.

• outdated systems that no longer apply to modern life
• flexible guidelines that can be changed at any time.
• structures that dictate behavior and define the participants' identity or group status.
• religious doctrines meant to bring people closer to God.

• "I tried to imagine the gesture of his hand reaching to cover his mouth, each time he coughed."
• "Everyone, like myself, was probably on the verge of fetching a rope... but then we looked around at each other and it was decided."
• "The next morning we came back, most of us carrying bread or fruit or something to eat in our pockets."
• "I thought that toward the end maybe he had said he was sorry."